Police urge citizens to decline offers of help from yakuza at festivals

A step in the right direction. But they also need to warn people what can happen when you go refusing yakuza and tell them what to do about it.

Offers to "help out"??? Heck, those booths make a (pardon the expression) killing! The gangsters are hardly doing it for charity. Ditto for protection rackets on summer beach houses and half the station-front ramen carts in the metropolis.

Hope more citizens stand up for their communities and their local events!

The only harm they do is not pay taxes.

The beach house are not mostly yakuza at all. They are families and belong to coops.

Its not offers of help, it's more stand over to set up stalls and control the snacks and food being sold at festivals and events. Offers of help it is NOT.

In my neighborhood, they help carry mikoshi as well.

Do you suppose all those cash only food stands are a nice way to launder money?

Yaks control all the stalls in all the festivals up here. In fact, if you want to set up a stall of your own - you need their permission (plus fee of course). My advice? Don't buy ANY food or drinks at festivals - not only is it much cheaper from the conbini it isn't a potential food-poisoning like unhygenic festival food.

They did this at a local festival a few years back and the festival was a disaster. I agree with the notion of doing so, but if they DO refuse the services of the yaks they need to get OTHER snack booths and what not. Said festival had NO alcohol, NO food stalls except a two hour line for chocolate covered bananas or kastera, and it was awful.

It is better to have a good relationship with yakuza in this country otherwise you may regret it.

No Foxie, it is better to have NO relationship with the yakuza.

And that's what we're pushing for!

@taj

You fail to understand. Foxie isn't offering an opinion. She's making you an offer you'd be very, very unwise to refuse.... Capisci??

Hey, if you want to operate a booth all you have to do is include the number 20 in the name of your booth, and the yakuza will leave you alone.

@zichi where is that building in Kobe?

lucabrasiSep. 06, 2011 - 01:16PM JST

@taj

You fail to understand. Foxie isn't offering an opinion. She's making you an offer you'd be very, very unwise to refuse.... Capisci??

Lolol

Do you suppose all those cash only food stands are a nice way to launder money?

Seems to me to more about accumulating $$$ than laundering it........

stamping out organized crime is a waste of time and resources. you can arrest hundreds of them and another hundred will pop up the next day. so if you can't beat them, just tax them. at least then society in general can benefit.

Hey, if you want to operate a booth all you have to do is include the number 20 in the name of your booth, and the yakuza will leave you alone.

Please elaborate.

taj, I don't think you understand how business is conducted in this country.

The local say the first two floors are for use by the Yakuza, and above that for the police?

Where? (you've got me curious now....)

I don't know about locals doing the food....what knowledge do the neighbors have about safe food prep at festivals? There has to be a better alternative.

Police urge citizens to decline offers of help from yakuza at festivals

Shouldn't that read "Police urge the public to stand up to yakuza threats and extortion to get kickbacks from organizers of local festivals" (but give them no backup if the local gang get upset about this?) Seems the idea of making submitting to extortion a crime is okay in principal, but puts business owners, or this case festival organisers, between a rock and a hard place. As long as they stick to indirect threats and insinuation to intimidate, most people will cave in and pay out of fear of the consequences of saying no. I'm sure the yakuza are canny enough at this to get people one to one and then twist their arms, or pleasantly suggest what they would like, and let the badge do the rest.

@wtfftw - Yakuza basically means 8 - 9 - 3, the sum of which is 20, an unlucky number in yakuza gambling.

@japan gal and Foxie

what is it that motivates you people to support organized crime in japan? family connections? secret society connections??? intelligence connections????

the yakuza have nothing to do with culture or any other phenomenon associated with society. one of their purposes in putting on a display of being connected to culture by running booths at religious festivals or feigning to be socially responsible in reacting to assist in the case of disasters is to create a false association in the mind of the public with their criminal organizations and culture and charity, while at the same time excluding the general public from creating a genuine festival put on by members of the community without organized crime sociopaths, not to mention trying to upstage the respective public entities in the event of disaster.

destroy the yakuza

If there is one thing I can't stand it is a connected Carnie. Sends chills up my spine.

The sad thing is the outrageous prices are pretty much par for the course for most corporate controlled venues and festivals in the west. It's not like getting ripped off on the price of a soda is a Japanese thing. Neither is being forced to use a certain vendor for supplies. The Yaks use muscle and intimidation, corporations use contracts, lawyers and intimidation.

ubikwit, I never said that I support them. The sad reality is that nothing is being done to protect people. I knew a man who had a business and didn't want to cooperate with them. As a result, nobody was buying his goods because everything was controlled by them. He had to close his business eventually, leaving him with big debts and he committed suicide in the end. So, as sad and unfair it may sound, don't you think he would have been better off just working with them?

@Foxie

That's a tragic story, but no, I don't think he would have been better off comprising his values and freedom to work with a bunch of sociopaths. It's tragic, but I imagine that is the way he felt about it, and found no where to go in a social corrupted. I don't think that suicide was the answer, but maybe he felt that the failure of his business was a judgement by his peers, or maybe he found no other way to fight the yakuza, and felt that suicide was the only honorable way out.

Such a tragic incidence would seem to indicate that it is long overdue for Japanese law enforcement to eradicate the yakuza, restore the "free" part of the "free-market", as in keeping it open for competition. The yakuza are a systemic, macro level problem in Japanese society, as they are connected to the highest levels in the political sphere, with recent exposures being to right wingers like former prime minister Mori. The legitimate businesses they have established through money laundering have in some cases provided them with insurmountable economies of scale, as seen with the waste disposal contracts in the cleanup effort after the disaster in Tohoku.

The ability to monopolize an industry in that manner should be illegal for a legitate company, let alone companies that are fronts for organized crime.

So I would think that any efforts that Japanese legislative and law enforcement can undertake to restore communities to the residents and ensure that legislative and regulatory controls are put in place and enforced in order to keep the free-market economy open to competition to legitimate business would be more than welcome.

What is Yakuza? Do you even know what a Yakuza member looks like? I doubt it.

Forget those old fashion tattooed up the back images you might have. Punch perms are gone and although they may be Yakuza they certainly know what's out of style.

Yazuka today wear business suits. They've got excellent lawyers and upscale homes. They are business owners, politicians and belong to political organizations. Chances are you've even sat down to had a bite to eat with one of them or even a family member who looks like a normal girl. You know nothing about her or his family.

You've heard this before: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist". You've got a poster boy image in your head for a Yakuza member.

Being fair, there are some low level thugs out there but there's always a money trail, that goes always to the top. They're not out there busting heads, blowing up institutions. Today's Yakuza are out there maintaining the status quo.

Let me show you who the real Yakuza are. The government. It makes sense for me. Yakuza don't know how to run nuclear reactors or create a stable economy. Yakuza know only one thing, take money from the people. Health Insurance, City Taxes, Car tax, Highway tolls, Bonus money, key money, inheritance tax, even NHK knocking on your door.

There's no money in knocking over an okonomiyaki-yatai.

You're laughing. Come on!! You think Yakuza organisations got rich selling candy coated bananas at summer festivals?? You think they got rich off rusty teppan yakisoba? They got rich by blending in, keeping the rich rich and taking over the government. That's a criminal organisation.

You can't even vote for your Prime Minister. That's gangster!!

The police are the only people in the country and when they show up they come with about 7 to 8 officers. Why so serious? That's gangster!!

Stopping someone on a bicycle cause he doesn't have a light on it. Taking his bike and giving him a FINE!! That's gangster!!

Abducting children from another country then locking up the father for trying to see them. That's gangster!!

Geez people. Take the red pill and wake up!!

edit: The police are the only people in the country with guns -

ubikwit, as long as even the government uses their services, nothing will change.

Had a run in with 3 of the foot soldiers two years ago. Standing up to them was no problem as I've learned the bigger the voice the more respect you get. Their boss did come to see what was going on, and in my best Japanese I explained to him that they were causing trouble in my friend's bar. I used a calm voice and made him feel like top dog, even apologizing for causing him to have to come out to see what the trouble was. Next thing I know, the three are bowing down to me and saying sorry and he's shaking my hand! However, I will be more than happy to see the back of these scum!

I agree with Foxie. It is better to have respectable guys in suits rather than petty gang scum you find in American cities.

"In the past, yakuza gangs have been known to operate snack booths and other vending stalls at festivals throughout Japan."

Oh, what a startling newsflash . . . Not. This is no secret, and has never been.

Quite honestly, I've got no problem with "The Yakuza" selling food in a safe and legal manner at festivals. What, exactly is wrong with this? They apply for the permits to do business at the festivals, just like anyone else. They maintain food safety no better or no worse than most "respectable" ramen shops I frequent. They are generally polite and peaceful, and with the exception of one incident I witnessed about 5 years ago, have never instigated a single altercation at the countless festivals I've attended.

They came to sell food and goods, and that's just what they do. It's not like these vendors set up shop and refuse to leave their patch of grass unless residents pay "go away" money. They're gone as soon as the festival ends, heading up the road to the next one. So what's the problem, exactly?

If it's a tax evasion issue, then sick the law on them. But to "urge" localities to shun these people for being "gangsters", even when the act of operating a street cart during festivals in no way constitutes a crime, doesn't make and sort of rational sense. By forcing these groups out of the countless festivals that mark the summer holidays, it's essentially leaving a whole LOT of young people unemployed, young people, mind you, who you wouldn't be given the time of day if they sought emplyment with "respectable" businesses.

Which leaves these young people with a whole lot of time on their hands to do far worse than charge 500 yen for a cob of corn or a soft drink.

Seriously, it's this kind of attitude that allows organized crime in Japan to thrive, and it starts in the public school system, where anyone who doesn't fit the mold is effectively written off forever. I can't count the number of kids who get relegated to "Hopeless" status because they died their hair once, or didn't relish every moment in class. The stigma society paints on the nail that sticks up never goes away, and leaves outsiders in Japan with little other choice than to either join organized crime families, or face destitution.

@LFRAgain - Great post. Cogent and thought-provoking.

@LFRAgain

the problem with your analysis is that you extract the several booth operators out of their pre-established affiliation with organized crime and cast them as some sort of grass roots entrepreneurs.

one reason that these people all have dyed hair an other traits that are meant to make them stand out is because they are trying to project a counterculture image that in fact has nothing to do with culture, just mass conformity to a counter-ethos.

since they are under pressure from within to conform to the counter-ethos group standard, the reason that they are "hopeless" is because that is what they are saddled with from the start due to their affiliation with organized crime.

it is a forgone conclusion that they are different and are taught not to integrate with others in society as part of the normal socialization process.

trying to blame that on japanese society at large using cliched sayings about the nail sticking out because the children from families aspiring to join the ranks of organized crime are compelled to dye their hair to promote a hair salon business run by the yakuza--or other such gauche fashion related business, is duplicitous, not to mention insulting to the japanese.

ubikwit,

"you extract the several booth operators out of their pre-established affiliation with organized crime and cast them as some sort of grass roots entrepreneurs."

Hardly. I cast them as people not breaking the law in the process of selling food and goods at festivals. The absurdity of your position lies not just a little in the presumption of guilt without a crime every having been commited simply for looking a certain part, which hardly speaks well to an enlightened society that prides itself on a just and impartial legal system.

The obvious flaw in your assemssment is that if simple affiliation with an illegal act or organization were enough to deny a member of Japanese society a constitutionally protected right to work, then why not mass arrests to remove these scourge from society, particularly if, as you suggest, their guilt is pre-established?

"one reason that these people all have dyed hair an other traits that are meant to make them stand out is because they are trying to project a counterculture image that in fact has nothing to do with culture, just mass conformity to a counter-ethos."

This might bear consideration were it not for the irrationality of appling it equally to 12 or 13-year-olds, which, as I believe, is where this counterculture (as you call it) begins. Kids don't sit around one day and say, "Hey, I'm going to seek to be ostracized from my peers. I'll start by piercing my nose or dying my hair and see where things go from there."

"it is a forgone conclusion that they are different and are taught not to integrate with others in society as part of the normal socialization process."

Oh, is it now? So Japanese who join becme criminals, or speaking more broadly, Japanese who fail to fit neatly into the societal mold of what constitutes acceptable do so because it's in their nature? Talk about insulting.

@LFRAgain

first of all, the authorities have only embarked on what amounts to an education program--no laws have been changed and the enforcement of current laws hasn't changed. the effect that this program should have however, is to give people that want to say no to the yakuza the courage to do so, as it is now less likely that community members and parishoners who decline their services they will be threatened with violence or otherwise intimidated. the police are not "forcing" anyone out of anything, and the festivals that do exist do not number enough to constitute "employment".

incidentally, in most advanced countries it is a crime to belong to a "criminal organization", the japanese legal system is playing a bit of catch-up.

in any case, you appear to be trying to paint the japanese authorities as great oppressors of the persecuted yakuza, as if they were some religious sect whose civil rights were being violated. i don't mean to be impolite, but that seems downright ludicrous to me.

no one's constitutional rights are being violated--or yakuza lawyers would be looking to cash in on that...

in october i understand that there will be some new laws, ordinance or the like aimed at preventing the yakuza from making incursions into civil society by setting up front companies through which to launder their criminally ill-gotten gain..

by the way, it seems that you have a groupie, too, just like blue witch! am i seeing a pattern here?

@LFRAgain and hatsoff

The more I look at your post the more I feel inclined to call attention to your hyperbole, such as the following:

The stigma society paints on the nail that sticks up never goes away, and leaves outsiders in Japan with little other choice than to either join organized crime families, or face destitution.

pity that such a semi-well crafted sentence has to be laid to waste. but what exactly is your definition of "outsider" again?

one who attempts to advocate for the right of disadvantaged individuals on hte basis of their individuality (i.e., as "outsiders") should not make statements that make recourse to a type of determinism that puts the actions of such individuals beyond the scope of their free will. is there not a contradiction there?

suffice it to say that I will be watching you people, along with all of the other groupy groupies types here on this forum putting out a corrosive ideological diatribe in support of sociopaths.

as i mentioned earlier, the only non-japanese who support the yakuza seem to be people in secret societies (e.g., the freemasons), who are also basically trying to undermine open society with their sociopathic forays into the public sphere.

ubikwit,

I was working on a response to your posts, but stopped. Why? Because I was trying to comment on what I perceive to be a serious social issue, and I expected other posters to do the same.

However you seem more interested in trying to appear clever by being, yes, impolite, as well as dismissive and insulting, rather than actually addressing in a mature manner the points raised by myself and other posters.

Insinuations of connections to the Yakuza or suggestions of some sort of sinister pattern do not an argument make. They are simply childish efforts to divert attention from questions raised about your argument.

I'm too old anymore to indulge in your type of nonsense. If you want to discuss this topic like a mature adult, great. Let's do that. But if that's impossible for you, then we'll just stop here and be done with it.